Viral Wars
by Elphie1332
Summary: Creatures of darkness walk among us. There are few who can fight them off. Few who know they exist. When the dark creatures start to mutate, seventeen year old Sora finds herself trapped in a hospital with infected swarming around her. Together, her and her small group of survivors attempt to make their way to safety, but there is more to the virus than the world is telling them...


Preface: 1870, London.

"He's late."

The three figures standing on top of the Black Mountain were impatient. They did not like to be kept waiting and, unfortunately, that was exactly what was happening. The meeting was supposed to begin thirty minutes ago. However, it was delayed by the absence of one particular young man.

Frustrated, Harper Evlos turned on her heel. Her blue eyes traced down the side of the mountain, hoping for a glance of her friend. Wyatt Nightmor was supposed to be here, and he wasn't. His brother, Alexios let out a grunt from next to her. Keeping her eyes focused on the mountain, she shook her head impatiently.

"Your brother was supposed to be here."

"I told him to come," Alexios said darkly. "I reminded him this morning."

"Then where is he?" Harper demanded. She turned sharply, glaring over at Alexios. The seventeen-year-old frowned, shaking his blonde head back and forth.

"I don't know, Harper."

Harper grunted and spun quickly back toward the mountain. Wyatt knew how important this night was. It was the ceremony they had been waiting for. The ceremony they had trained for. For years the three of them—Harper, Wyatt and Alexios—had been an inseparable team. They had spent countless hours together learning and training for this moment. The moment they would finally take their place among the Dar'Klave and become full-fledged Klavers in the eyes of their ancestors. It was the night chosen Klavers trained for since they were five years of age.

And Wyatt Nightmor was nowhere to be found.

They couldn't do it without him. The Dar'Klave only accepted trios and would not even begin to test them without Wyatt. Not only was he imperative, but he was their leader. He was the most skilled in combat and tactics and, without him, they didn't stand a chance at the trails. Harper screamed loudly, her voice echoing through the air.

"He knew what this meant!"

"We can not proceed without Mr. Nightmor," one of the elders spoke.

Harper grunted shaking her head. She spun back around, pointing an accusing finger at Alexios. "You know where he is, don't you?" she demanded.

Alexios shrugged. "I don't."

Like a bolt of lightning to the head, it dawned on her. Regardless of whether Alexios wanted to tell her or not, Harper suddenly knew where Wyatt was. It had been right in front of her face the whole time. The conversation they had the other morning had been her clue and she had pieced it together.

"I know where he is," she sneered coldly. She turned to the elders. "Give me an hour," she pleaded. "I'll get him."  
The elders shook their hooded heads. "You are not given the hour requested. It is our judgement whether you shall be tested or not." They dissolved into a whispered discussion. Irritated, Harper turned toward Alexios.

"Do you realize how hard we worked?" she demanded. "How long we trained for this?" She shook her head. "Not everybody is chosen to do the trials, Alex."

Glancing over at the use of his nickname, Alexios sighed heavily. Harper wasn't wrong. They had spent years training since they were allotted into the trainings. Only a small fraction of blood born children were even selected to be trained, let alone tested. The trials meant the same to him as they did to Harper. And he knew they meant the same to Wyatt. Still, Wyatt had been distracted lately. There was no denying that.

"There's nothing I can do, Harper," Alexios said quietly. "He doesn't listen to me either."

She scowled at him. "This is getting ridiculous, Alex. He can't keep going like this. Not when it is going to start affecting the way we perform. The way our lives are shaped."

Alexios couldn't argue with her. Wyatt was normally the most focused out of the three of them. The most prepared, the one who kept Harper and Alex in line. Not the other way around. The last year had been different. Wyatt had been late for trainings. He had been distracted in his work and had gotten problems wrong he knew the answers to. Alex couldn't pretend he didn't know why. He had internally hoped his brother wouldn't let it drag him so far to where he didn't arrive for an imperative trial, though.

The elders had stopped talking. Alex and Harper turned to face them. Harper's heart was pounding against her chest. They couldn't turn them away. They needed to give them another chance. One hour. She could find Wyatt. Alex and her could bring him here.

"You have one more chance. Tomorrow," they said together. "We will postpone the meeting for one day. If Wyatt Nightmor does not show up tomorrow night, there will be no testing for the three of you. You will wait until another opening appear."

"He'll be here," Harper promised, trying to fight the urge to argue. "Thank you for the chance."  
Without waiting for Alexios, she stormed off the mountain, diving into the air, making her way gracefully through the mist of the evening. Wyatt was not going to ruin this for them. There was nothing more important than receiving a place in the Dar'Klave. It was tradition for those chosen to take place in a trial. If they passed, they became Klavers—guardians of peace and hunters of underworld creatures. Coexisting in a world with good and evil was not easy, and Klavers had been designed to keep the balance between both worlds.

Alexios nodded to the Elders and leapt off the cliff after Harper. He hoped she wasn't going to try to track Wyatt down. Then again, if he knew his brother, Wyatt had made sure wherever he was tonight wasn't a place Harper or anybody else for that matter could find him. Alex smiled faintly in the dark. As upset as he was for the trail being postponed, he had to give his brother credit for his attempt to hide himself from the wrath of Harper Evlos.

She was staring at him.

The summer breeze blew through the twilight blue sky. He could see her silhouette coming toward him through the trees of the park. Letting out a long breath, he smiled staring down the hill as she made her way up to him.

There was somewhere else he was supposed to be, but Wyatt had promised her he would be here. As important as trials were, he knew Harper would get it switched to a different date. And, if she didn't, he would wait for a new opening. She was more important than the trials, even if his brother and Harper would disagree.

She had reached the top of the hill now. Wyatt smiled at her, expecting it back. Instead, she frowned. Her eyes were glistening in the moonlight in a way that made Wyatt uncomfortable. Had she been crying? He stepped forward, reaching out to her. His hands wrapped gently around her wrists, pulling her into a hug he was sure would comfort whatever was upsetting her.

"You came," he smiled against her hair. She smelled like coffee and lilacs, an odd combination, but one that was her own and one Wyatt had grown to love.

"I promised I would," her reply came. Her voice was uneven and quiet, shaky. Unlike the melody he was used to hearing when she was around him. Frowning, Wyatt looked down at her face. She was staring at the ground. Why wouldn't she look at him? There was a feeling of pressure beginning at the center of his chest. Something was very wrong.

"Soraya?" he asked. He didn't want to be right. His instinct was on point almost always. Something Alexios and Harper often jostled him for. Tonight, he would have given anything to make his spiraling assumptions wrong. He leaned toward her again, wrapping her once more in a hug meant to comfort. She shuddered against him so violently he was startled, backing up and gawking in confusion.

"Soraya?"

She still refused to look at him. The baby blue eyes he lost himself in countlessly never wavered from the ground. Finally, she stepped backward away from him, his hands clinging onto her wrists, afraid if he let go; she would disappear.

"We can't do this, Wyatt."

He froze. His hands fell from her arms, a sick sensation wrapping around his stomach. His heart skipped a painful beat.

"What?" he stammered, unable to think. The world around him was spinning.

She blinked. "We can't do this. You know it, I know it. It's time to stop pretending something can come from this when we both know that's not possible."

Bile churned in his stomach, making its way up his throat. His chest was heavy. His head began to throb. The shadows around him seemed to press inward. There was a growing feeling of drowning in his mind, suffocation as his lungs began to stall. His entire body seemed to not know how to function. For the first time in his life, Wyatt stumbled backward, eyes wide as he stared at her. This couldn't be happening. It was impossible.

Finally, he found his voice. "Because of what I am?"

She shook her head, raven hair falling into her face. "No. I…you know I've never cared about that."

He stared at her. "Then…why are you doing this?"

She turned away, unable to look him in the face. Wyatt reached out, but his hands fumbled through air. Soraya had moved away from him and had her back turned. The air became cold. A lump formed in Wyatt's throat as he tried to remember how to breathe. What was he supposed to do? Sora had given him so many reasons to be…alive. She had given him reasons to press through the pain, the torture his trainings had cost him. She had given him a reason to be more than the darkness that swam around him constantly. She had been a light and now…that was being pulled away from him. She had given him hope that he could have somewhat of a normal life, despite the role he was born into. Now…that all felt like it was being stripped away from him.

"I can't do this," she said finally. Her voice was impassive, yet there was something there on the edge that made him believe for a second she didn't want to be doing this. "Kelvin has…"  
"Kelvin." Wyatt's voice had turned stone cold. "You told me he wasn't…that you weren't…"

Soraya shook her head. "I'm sorry, Wyatt."

Without waiting for an answer, she began to walk down the hill away from him.

"Soraya!" he called because he didn't know what else there was to do. He was paralyzed there, unable to think. He felt dizzy. His chest was pulsating in pain. His heart was beating rapidly against his sternum, pain radiating through his body. He expected her to turn around and tell him this was a game, a sick twisted joke she was playing. Soraya kept walking, though. He called her name again, but she disappeared into the night.

His reason for everything…was gone.

The vial felt stiff against his hand.

It had been a long night. Wyatt had stumbled blindly through the night streets of London, lost in suffocating thoughts of terror, hopelessness and pain. Never had he felt anything like this before. The shock of Soraya leaving him had sent him into a trance where all he felt was the pain. He knew to keep breathing. He knew to keep going on; but what was the point of that anymore?

He had passed bars and brothels. Had stood at the edge of the river and contemplated jumping into the dark waters.

How could she do this to him? Why had she done it? There was no logic behind it. No matter what Wyatt thought, his mind wouldn't accept the reality she had left. He felt split in half, two separate parts fighting against him. One telling him to run after her, go to her home and plead with her to change her mind. The other was stronger and louder, telling him to find anything that would numb the pain he was feeling. It taunted him, ebbing him toward the dark waters and toward the bars. It was what was causing the pain wrapping around his being. And it wouldn't stop. It only grew at the night progressed.

That was why the vial was now in his hands.

Elixers weren't forbidden from Klavers or those training to become Klavers. In fact, they were often valued as tricks to a Klaver's hunting or missions. However, the Elixer Wyatt was holding wasn't something he would normally use.

At the height of his despair, Wyatt had stumbled his way through a dark alley. Waiting there had been a man in a dark green cloak that had offered him peace. Offered him a way to forget about what he was feeling. A way to erase the pain in his soul.

Years of training told Wyatt not to accept the stranger's offering of tranquility, but his desire to rid himself of the pain was stronger. He had drunkenly made his way home and now found himself staring at the vial in his hand, trying to find a reason to resist temptation.

"Wyatt…don't."  
Wyatt turned to his brother and gave him a cold look. "Why are you here, Alexios?"

Alexios blinked. "Well, I was coming over to make sure you came to the trails tonight, however it looks like you need more than a reminder to show up." His eyes trailed to the vial in Wyatt's hand. "Wyatt, what is that?"

"An Elixer," Wyatt replied impassively.

Alexios shook his head. "Where did you get it? I don't remember seeing a log for an elixir take out."

"Because I didn't take it from the Dar'Klave," Wyatt said. "It was given to me."

"By whom?" Alex asked, wide eyed. "That's not safe."

"You're right," Wyatt said. "It's probably not. However, I don't want to feel anymore."

On any other day, Alexios would have been shocked at his younger brother's admittance of him being right. Wyatt never had admitted that before, even in a situation where he was proved wrong. Tonight was not one of those nights. Alex stepped carefully into the room. His brother was a fireball at his worst moments, this being one of them. If he wasn't careful, Wyatt would take the elixir without question. The contents of the vial were unknown. Alex couldn't sense danger, but that didn't ease the feeling of uncertainty. Alexios shook his head. "You have to feel something, Wyatt. Taking that…it won't fix your problems. It won't make everything better."

"Perhaps not," Wyatt said impassively, "but it will make me numb so I can't feel. I can't think about her. I need to do what I was born to do."

Alexios stumbled. His brother wasn't wrong, he was needed. Harper and Alex were counting on Wyatt for the trails tonight. They wouldn't be allowed in without him. And years of training would be wasted if they did not attend. However, Alexios was struggling with his feelings toward his brother. He didn't want to see him suffer. He had been startled when Wyatt confessed what Soraya had done the previous night. As upset as Alexios had been with Wyatt not appearing at the summit, he hadn't expected his brother to be being turned down by the girl he had been almost inseparable from for a year.

"Wyatt…" he warned.

"If you don't like it, then leave," Wyatt snapped.

"This isn't the way to fix it…"

"Then get out," Wyatt repeated. "You don't need to be here to watch."

Alexios sighed heavily. He hated everything about this. He didn't want to see his brother to suffer, but he had thought…he had seen the way Wyatt acted around Soraya; if there had been anybody who was meant to pull the darkness from him, it had been her. The situation didn't make any sense, but there was no reason to dwell on that now. Wyatt had made up his mind—Alexios wouldn't let him go through this alone.

And still…

"You know I'm with you," Alexios said slowly. "Until my final breath, I'm with you."

He didn't say how he was worried how the elixir would affect his brother. They had a duty to do, yes, and yes; Alexios was happy Wyatt was here and accepting what his place was, but this didn't feel right. It didn't feel right that Wyatt was seeking drastic measures to numb a pain that made him human. They were human. That part of them wasn't affected simply due to being born into a chosen bloodline of hunters. The elixir was dangerous. It could turn his brother into something inhuman. Into someone unrecognizable. Doing his duty was one thing. Turning into a monster in order to do it wasn't necessary.

Wyatt moved to the side, his hand running over the black vial in his hands. Alexios was sure Wyatt knew the risks of taking the potion. He watched his brother carefully, wishing there was something he could do to alter his decision. There would be no going back after taking the elixir. The brother he knew might disappear completely.

With a pop, Wyatt uncapped the vial. Without hesitating, he brought it to his lips and took the entire thing in one gulp.

At first, nothing happened. Alexios was about to step forward when Wyatt fell onto his knees.

He grunted sharply, his eyes closing as red smoke began to rise from the ground around him. Alexios stepped back in horror, watching the smoke rise higher and higher, spinning around Wyatt in a whirlwind of flame. An inhuman scream echoed from his brother's throat, chilling Alex's blood to the core. The room itself froze. The black smoke was soaring up into the air. Wyatt was floundering around like a caught fish, his head bashing against the ground.

Alexios screamed, running forward and skidding across the ground. Desperately, he tried to steady Wyatt's head.

A gasp sounded from the doorway.

Turning, Alexios screamed at Harper to go get help. She dashed out into the hall as Alexios turned back to his brother.

Wyatt's spasms were getting worse. White foam had formed on the corners of his mouth. His eyes had rolled back into his head and black lines were beginning to etch on his face, running like spiders down his skin. The ice in the room had been replaced by a fire. Alexios skidded backward, his hands burning where Wyatt's skin had touched him.

"What the devil is going on here?"

Harper had returned with help. Her father, one of their mentors, William Evlos rushed into the room, knocking Alexios aside. Alexios made his way to the doorway, Harper kneeling next to him. Her face was drained of color as she stared in horror at Wyatt.

"What did he do?" she whispered.

Alexios shook his head, still unable to believe what he was seeing. "I…he took some elixir. I don't know where he got it…what was in it."  
"And you let him?" she cried. "You let him take something without knowing what it was?"

Unable to speak, Alexios turned back to the spot on the ground where William was trying to stabilize Wyatt's movements. He had pulled a pendant out of his pocket and had it pressed to Wyatt's bare chest. There was a sizzling noise coming from the pendant and the smell of burning flesh filled the room.

Finally, Wyatt stopped moving.

His chest rose and fell in slow movements. The smoke that had evaporated to the top of the room came crashing down, melting into Wyatt's skin.

"Is he going to be okay?" Harper asked in a shaky voice.

Her father turned around. "What was in that elixir?" he demanded. He snatched the vial off the ground and brought it to his nose, sniffing. "Where did he get this?"

"He wouldn't tell me," Alexios replied.

William Evlos shook his head in a scolding manner before turning back to the unconscious Wyatt. "He's lucky to be alive."

Alexios noted the pendant had wound its way around Wyatt's neck and was emitting an eerie blue glow.

"He'll have to wear that for the rest of his life," William went on. "If he takes it off, he'll die."

"Die?" Harper shrieked. "What do you mean die?"  
"I mean that whatever was in this vial wasn't meant to leave the drinker alive. At least, that is what I can assume from the response Mr. Nightmor had upon drinking it. It will need analyzed. He won't be attending the trials tonight. He needs rest."  
Harper gawked at her father as he moved toward the doorway. "Get him into bed," he commanded Alexios. "Don't let him out of your sight until he wakes. If he's not awake in three days, come find me."

"Thank you," Alexios whispered as the man passed him. William stopped for only a second, giving Alex a curt nod before leaving the room.

It took a moment for Harper to register what happened. Alexios was still in shock, unable to pry his eyes from his brother lying on the floor.

"I'm going to kill him when he wakes up," Harper said, though her tone was quiet. "He should know better than to take something without considering what it might do to him."  
"We still don't know what it will do to him," Alex said darkly. He stepped toward his brother, kneeling down and pulling Wyatt up. Harper moved next to Alex, helping him support Wyatt's weight as they walked toward the bed. Once Wyatt was on the straw mattress, Alex fell into the chair next to the bed. The would not being going to the trials tonight. There would be no decision to whether the trio would become Klavers. Not tonight. He should be upset, and he was, but more at his brother for being stupid than missing a testing night. There would be other nights. There would be no other brother. If Wyatt hadn't made it tonight…

Alexios forced the haunting thought out of his mind.

Harper was looking sadly at Wyatt's body. She leaned forward and placed her head in her hands. "He's going to wake up," she said, though more to herself than Alexios.

Alexios didn't answer. He kept his gaze fixed on his brother in the bed and tried extremely hard to push out the impending worry slowly building up inside him as to what exactly was going to happen to Wyatt when he finally decided to wake.


End file.
